Terrence Malick’s new film The Tree of Life (12A) is nothing
short of revolutionary. It abandons narrative structure, is almost entirely
lacking in plot, but centres on a modest Catholic family, The O’Briens, in
1950’s small town Texas.

The film begins in the microcosm of O’Brien family life, when they are
staggering from the news that their second son, a gentle, musical youngster
has died at the tender age of 19. Malick then jumps to a macrocosmic
perspective - by uniting this tragic death to collages depicting the dawning
of the universe. There is no script for this 20-minute section, showing